Music Sparkling and Profound

Nicole McKenzie, violinist, has performed widely as soloist and chamber musician. The Santa Barbara Independent declared, “McKenzie made a splash… she performed with gorgeous musicality.” Winner of the Sutton Chamber Music Award, she graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, earned a BM degree from Oberlin Conservatory, an MM degree from Florida State University, and studied with Gary Kosloski at the Music Academy of the West. She has studied improvisation with Christian Howes. Ms. McKenzie is concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra, and performs in the accordion/violin duo Continental Cafe. She played electric violin in M.O.B. Jazz Ensemble, and regularly concertized with renowned pianist, Betty Oberacker. She has taught music to students of all ages, and is currently the elementary music teacher for the Carpinteria School District. She has worked at UC Santa Barbara as a lecturer and as a music director and music performer in the Theater and Dance Department. She has created a collaborative dance and music improvisation group and has performed in various music styles including classical, jazz, folk, klezmer, and musical theater. She performs on a violin created for her by Michel Eggimann of Rome, Italy.

David Singer, clarinetist, enjoys a career as one of the most highly respected clarinetist in the United States. The New York Times proclaimed, “To describe Singer’s playing would be to enumerate a catalogue of virtues.” Principal clarinetist, Emeritus, of the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, his performances include the White House for Presidents Carter and Clinton, guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and chamber music concerts with Yehudi Menuhin, Yo Yo Ma, Rudolf Serkin, and members of the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets. Gramophone Magazine affirmed, ”His playing is exceptional … sensitive and expressive, technically brilliant.” “Singer’s Copland performance is one of the finest accounts around.” Of his West Coast premiere of the Aldridge Concerto with the L.A. Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Times noted, “… teeming with energy, rowdy, ethnic and fun.” The Max Reger Institute in Karlsruhe, Germany selected Singer’s recording with Rudolf Serkin of Reger’s Clarinet Sonata Op. 107 to be reissued internationally in 2023, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Today, he performs with the Singer Chamber Players and the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Kuan Fen Liu. His debut memoir, From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall, captures his extraordinary life in music—sharing behind-the-scenes and often humorous stories of the legendary figures he has known, and offering inspiration not just to musicians, but to anyone chasing a dream. In September, 2025, it was announced that David Singer and From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall is the WINNER of The NYC Big Book Award in the category of – Autobiography. An audiobook of From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall with possibly one big surprise addition is in the process of being made. For more information, visit www.singerclarinet.com.

Betty Oberacker, pianist, is internationally acclaimed for her interpretations of both traditional and contemporary solo and chamber music repertoire, and has toured throughout Europe, Israel, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the U.S., including performances at Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic Hall and Vienna Musikverein. She has been Artist-in-Residence at 55 universities, conservatories and music festivals worldwide, and many important composers have dedicated their compositions to her. Her musical gifts were evidenced at three, when she began to play the piano and compose entirely by ear. Piano lessons started at age seven, and at nine she was accepted on scholarship as the only child student of the noted pianist Beryl Rubinstein. Her BM/MM Degrees are from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her DMA Degree is from Ohio State University, where she was concomitantly a member of the piano faculty. Her discography includes Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (Clavier Records), A Bach Commemorative Recital (MIT Great Performances Archives), Chamber Music of Emma Lou Diemer (Orion), Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Century), John Biggs’ Variations on a Theme of Shostakovich (VMM), and Diemer’s Piano Concerto (MMC), the latter two works composed for Oberacker. Honors accorded her include a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Italy and the University of California Distinguished Teaching Award, and her students hold important positions as performers and teachers in the U.S., Asia and Europe. Dr. Oberacker is UCSB Professor Emeritus, and enjoys an active performing, teaching and chamber music coaching schedule.